ENCINITAS — Crime and emergency homeless-related incidents declined in Encinitas through the first nine months of 2026, though local officials reported that fire response times still exceeded goals at two stations.
City Council members praised Capt. Shane Watts of the North Coastal Sheriff’s Station and Fire Chief Josh Gordon as they presented public safety updates at the Oct. 21 meeting.
“As a government body, our first job is safety and security,” said Councilmember Luke Shaffer. “I think it starts with the two of you leading our charge and our city has never been safer, never been more secure.”
Watts credited proactive policing and relationship-building with helping reduce reported crimes against people, property and society.
From January through September, crimes against people declined 3%, property crimes fell 12%, and crimes against society dropped 19% compared with the same period in 2025, according to the sheriff’s presentation.
Deputy-initiated activities, such as extra patrols and traffic stops, increased 48% during that period, following a 50% increase from 2024 to 2025. Deputies recorded 37,105 such activities through September, already exceeding the total for all of 2025.
“This is probably my favorite slide,” Watts said. “This really shows what our deputies are doing during that downtime when they’re not responding to a call for service. [They’re] being very proactive with their time, doing those extra patrols, making those traffic stops, getting out of the car and doing foot patrols in our parks.
“The North Coastal Station is the number one most proactive station in all of the sheriff’s offices. So, I’m very proud of that.”
He pointed to driving-under-the-influence statistics as an example of the results.
Reported crime and DUI-related collisions declined in Encinitas during the first nine months of 2026 compared with the same period in 2025, while deputy-initiated activity and DUI arrests increased. The Coast News graphic. Source: San Diego County Sheriff’s Office
DUI arrests increased 47% from January through September compared with the same period in 2025, reaching 155. Meanwhile, DUI-related collisions declined 30% and were down 47% compared with the first nine months of 2024.
Watts also credited additional deputies with supporting those efforts.
“We’re hopeful … that will get out to the community, that people will make smarter decisions and not get behind the wheel of their car because they know that there will be some accountability here in Encinitas,” he said.
Overall traffic collisions declined 4% compared with the first nine months of 2025. Deputies issued 902 citations during targeted traffic enforcement operations and seized 24 bicycles as part of bicycle, e-bike and electric motorcycle enforcement, according to the presentation.
Other crime trends included a 44% decrease in burglaries and a 47% drop in motor vehicle thefts compared with the same period last year.
Deputies also increased enforcement of municipal code violations, including camping on public property, possessing open alcohol containers in public and smoking in prohibited areas. Arrests and citations for municipal code violations increased 21%.
“So we are continuing to hold people accountable that are violating our municipal codes and this is also something that the city attorney is prosecuting these cases for us,” Watts said.
Watts described the figures as a continuation of trends observed during his first full year in the role.
“When we ended 2025 we were at a decade low,” Watts said, “so to know that we’re already exceeding where we were last year is good news.”
Councilmember Marco San Antonio said he felt everything was trending in “the right direction.”
“It is awesome to see year-over-year that graph just consistently going down,” San Antonio said.
Deputy Mayor Jim O’Hara called the accomplishments “incredible.”
Mayor Bruce Ehlers said he had particularly noticed increased law enforcement activity in Olivenhain.
“I’m seeing more activity in the last year in Olivenhain than I’ve seen in the last two or three decades,” Ehlers said. “It’s having the right effect. We’re slowing people down.”
Councilmember Joy Lyndes said she appreciated the communication from the North Coastal Station and its leadership.
“It’s impressive over the years how it has improved,” Lyndes said. “And I feel like whenever we have a problem, we can put our heads together and communicate and work well together to come to really positive outcomes. Thank you for your efforts with communication.”
Fire update
Gordon reported a roughly 33% decline in incidents involving homeless people from January through September compared with the same period in 2025. The department recorded 270 such incidents within Encinitas, city documents show.
“I will have to say thank you to the sheriff’s department and the HOPE team and all of the efforts that the city is putting in,” he said. “We’re seeing it on our side by us not responding as much to some of the emergencies that come out of our homeless or unhoused population.”
Overall demand for fire department services rose slightly. The department was assigned 5,997 incidents through September, up 1.6% from 5,905 during the same period in 2025. Medical incidents accounted for nearly 80% of those assignments, and the department’s two ambulances completed 2,760 transports.
Gordon also discussed first-arriving response times at the 90th percentile, a measure indicating the time within which the first responding unit arrives in 90% of incidents.
The goal is less than eight minutes for Stations 1 through 5 and 8 minutes, 30 seconds for Station 6 in Olivenhain, Gordon said. A planned relocation of Station 6 farther down Lone Jack Road is intended to improve coverage in the more spread-out community.
Stations 1, 2, 4 and 5 averaged monthly 90th-percentile first-arriving times below eight minutes, although each exceeded the goal in at least one month.
Station 3 exceeded its eight-minute goal in every month through September, averaging 9 minutes, 23 seconds across its monthly 90th-percentile figures. Station 6 also exceeded its goal every month, averaging 11 minutes, 38 seconds, with monthly figures ranging from 9 minutes, 17 seconds to 17 minutes, 7 seconds.
The presentation cautioned that averages of monthly percentiles are not the same as a single 90th-percentile response time calculated from all incidents during the period.
“We have a little bit of work to do, which you’ll see with our Station 6, but we’ll get there,” Gordon said.
